Luxembourg in Brief

Luxembourg is a peaceful and picturesque small country bordered by France, Belgium and Germany. The country has a population of about 450,000 people, of which approximately 280,000 are Luxembourgers, and the remaining percentage are foreigners. Furthermore, about 120,000 commuters come to work in Luxembourg every day from the three surrounding neighbour countries. The Luxembourgish citizens have their own language: Luxembourgish. They also speak French and German, French being the official language of the country. The result is a thriving multinational, multilingual environment, where many other languages are spoken as well.

As one of the 6 founders of the European Union, Luxembourg continues to play an important role in European politics, as it is a European headquarters for the European Court of Justice, the European Investment Bank (EIB), and the European Court of Auditors. It is also an important Financial Centre with somewhere in the vicinity of about 155 banks with more than 25 nationalities of origin, employing 11% of the country's workforce. The Luxembourg Financial Centre also counts about 57 insurance companies and about 273 captive reinsurance companies. The activities of Luxembourg's Financial Centre are kept harmonious and stable through the regulations established by the Financial Sector Supervisory Commission (CSSF) and the Insurance Companies Commission (Commissariat aux Assurances), as well as by the role played by the Central Bank of Luxembourg (BCL). Due to the fact that Luxembourg is in the Euro zone, the Central Bank of Luxembourg is fully a part of the European System of Central Banks.

The Luxembourg Financial Centre has developed a huge expertise in wealth management. At the same time a very important investment funds industry has developed. This ranks Luxembourg amongst the leaders in the world in this business.

A short video about life in Luxembourg

All the « forces vives » of the country, both public and private financial institutions act together for the maintaining of this ranking. In this respect, two key organisms were created: Codeplafi and Profil. Codeplafi ("Commission de développement de la place financière") is headed by the Financial Sector Supervisory Commission (CSSF). It is composed of top level officials and experts from the financial sector. It acts as a strategic "think tank" for the development of the financial sector. Profil ("Professionnels du Secteur Financier Luxembourg") has a major role in promoting the financial Centre internationally.

Commercial financial institutions demonstrate also their high level of creativity and quick adaptation to a changing context: elaboration of new products, tailor-made services…

The Luxembourg Financial Centre is, as a consequence, a high value laboratory for scientific financial research. With this in mind, developments in the area of financial education and studies as well as knowledge transfer are being undergone and are eagerly anticipated. Among others a step was taken when, a few years ago, a research unit in commercial and financial law was created within the framework of a public research Centre ("Centre de Recherche Public Gabriel Lippmann / Laboratoire de droit économique").

Another important step was taken when, in January 2003, the Luxembourg Government founded the Luxembourg School of Finance (LSF). The LSF offers a Master of Sciences (M.S.) in Banking and Finance designed around the concepts of risk and of value creation. LSF’s faculty members are highly recognized internationally for excellence in teaching and research.

Another sign of the expansion of this infrastructual process is the remarkable development during the recent last years of the University Centre of Luxembourg, which became in October 2003 the University of Luxembourg. The University offers various curricula in law, economics, finance, management; some of them being offered, on a regional basis, in partnership with universities based in the surrounding countries.

The Luxembourg Government is aware of the value of the financial sector's experience and the wealth of knowledge created by an environment made up of so many experts coming from various horizons. Through the ATTF, the sharing of this knowledge can hopefully be realised on an ever increasing scale.

The economy of Luxembourg is typically dominated by the services industry. However, two renowned global companies are based in Luxembourg:

Arcelor-Mittal, the second largest steel company in the world.
SES (Société Européenne de Satellites), one of the most important providers of worldwide satellite channels.
Goodyear has also established its research centre for Europe in the country.

As far as cooperation with countries in developments is concerned, it has to be mentioned that Luxembourg is one of the only countries in the world, which has devoted (according to international declared objectives) at least 0.7% of its GDP to this aim.

The World's Financial Centres

Helpful links about Luxembourg

www.gouvernement.lu (Luxembourg Government)
www.ont.lu (National Tourist Office)
www.lcto.lu (Luxembourg City Tourist Office)
www.cssf.lu (Banking Supervisory Authority)
www.cbl.lu (Central Bank of Luxembourg)
www.legilux.lu (Legal Portal of the Luxembourg Government)
www.abbl.lu & www.luxembourgforfinance.lu (Luxembourg Bankers’ Association)
www.cc.lu (Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce)
www.alpp.lu (Luxembourg Financial Professionals Association)
www.ifbl.lu (Luxembourg Institute for Training in Banking)
www.aca.lu (Luxembourg Insurance Companies Association)
www.alfi.lu (Luxembourg Investment Funds Association)
www.bourse.lu (Luxembourg Stock Exchange)